


Old Dude House: A Charmac Fic

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: (i'm sorry i love frank so much), (the death is frank), Growing Old, M/M, a minute of hurt/comfort, anyway it's well-established charmac just being old men together, but like they're all old., frank just wouldn't be alive, u know?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 12:05:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16618661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: the title & tags is summary enough. charlie & mac are very in love and old men now.





	Old Dude House: A Charmac Fic

**Author's Note:**

> yo this was tagged as charlie/dee for like a whole day or so b/c i did this on my phone and i'm fucking terrible w/ technology. my bad. this is charmac all the way.

Charlie was standing by the front of the bus, glaring at some teenagers with fire in his eyes. Charlie hated taking the bus for a fifteen minute walk, but it wasn’t much of an option in the winter time. The cold air grayed his skin and made him shiver for an hour after coming home. It also did something to his bones, made them creaky and achy. The doctor (when you’re old, you can afford to see doctors because of some paperwork Mac filled out) called said it was something to do with art maybe? It was a weird word that meant his joints sucked.

So, the bus was the only option. The only benefit to being old and taking the bus is that usually somebody stands up to give you a seat. But no, these stupid kids these days don’t stand up for old people! So, Charlie was glaring at them. He could tell they were looking elsewhere, avoiding his gaze. Once he realized they were uncomfortable, he started muttering to himself. Another advantage of being old is if you talk to yourself in public, people just think you’re a crazy old person.

And it worked. One of them got up awkwardly and offered him a seat. Charlie flopped down with a grumble, no thank you. He crossed his arms in displeasure the rest of the short ride. Nobody called you out for being a dickhead when you’re old, Charlie loved that.

He pulled the cord very shortly after sitting down. When the teenager rolled their eyes, Charlie gave him a smug smile and bounced happily off the bus, putting as much pep in his step as he could muster.

He walked up the stairs to his apartment, clutching the railing the whole way up. The apartment smelt pizza, which was awesome. Charlie didn’t realize how hungry he was until he smelt food and he didn’t want to stand around waiting for food to cook.

“Hey man,” Mac called, walking from the kitchen towards the door.

“Hey,” Charlie said. He shuffled to the couch, sitting down immediately. His knees already needed a break. He kneaded gently at the aching area as Mac sat down next to him.

Like a reflex, Mac immediately leaned over to kiss Charlie’s cheek.

“You okay?” Mac asked as he looked down at Charlie’s hand.

“Yeah, yeah. Rough day, I guess,” Charlie shrugged. He stopped moving his hand and looked back at Mac with a big, reassuring grin. He gave Mac a quick kiss and then said, “Yeah, it’s good, babe.”

“I don’t know, Charlie,” Mac said, glancing down at Charlie’s leg and then back at his eyes. He gently placed his hand on Charlie’s thigh, right above his knee. “You’ve been pretty beaten up this week. Maybe you should take some days off.”

“Eh, I’ll rest when I’m dead!” Charlie waved off.

“Don’t say that!” Mac protested.

“What? I am gonna die one day, and then I’ll rest forever and ever.”

“I don’t want to think about you dying.”

“I’m probably gonna die first, dude. My body’s way shittier than yours.”

“Charlie, can we not?”

“What’s your problem today?”

“I went over to Dennis’ today, we were going over paperwork for the bar,” Mac answered with a shrug.

“So?” Charlie asked, very obviously annoyed with Mac’s vagueness.

“Den’s not doing too hot,” Mac said quietly, looking down at his lap. “He kept forgetting shit, I don’t think he always knows what year it even is.”  
“Shit man,” Charlie whispered.

“Yeah, brings me back to Frank, you know?”

“I know.” Charlie put his hand over Mac’s. “Listen, Dennis’ll be good, he’s always good.”

“I know, but like, it’s still shitty. And like when he gets confused, he gets all pissy and starts yelling and shit, and you can’t fight Dennis anymore, you know? It’d just be fucked up to throw down at him now.” Mac shifted to put his head on Charlie’s shoulder partway through the story.

Charlie and Dennis really never have seen eye-to-eye since Charlie and Mac fell in love for the second time. The first time was in their childhood, a memory they’d both chosen to forget until Mac came out. The second time was a few years after Mac came out, after Mac started dating around, after Mac had gotten his heartbroken by half-a-dozen guys and Charlie’s heart had been broken by Mac half-a-dozen times.

Dennis didn’t like that Mac chose Charlie over him, essentially. Dennis chose to ignore the fact that he’d blatantly rejected and insulted Mac. He ignored the fact that Charlie and Mac had a secret history. He saw it as betrayal, but he was so afraid of losing Mac as a best friend that he aimed all of that anger at Charlie. 

Things got better the older they got. Especially after Frank died and Mac and Dennis became “upper management” which meant they stopped working at the bar. They hired some young bartenders, they did some paperwork, they visited often, but they weren’t there all the time. After a few years, they told Charlie he could be upper-management, but Charlie wanted to keep working. He liked work. Plus, the space was good for Charlie and Dennis, which made Mac happier.

Dennis still didn’t like Charlie and Charlie still found reasons to bicker with Dennis, but they were civil now. Plus, Dennis was Charlie’s good friend for so many years, he didn’t want the guy to die. And even if he did, Dennis still meant a lot to Mac. Even if that made Charlie jealous and nervous, Charlie didn’t want to see Mac have to lose his best friend. Charlie remembered what it felt like for him when Frank died.

So, even though Charlie didn’t quite like Dennis, he put his arm around Mac and rubbed his back, promising that Dennis would be okay.

“Have you talked to Dee about it?” Charlie asked.

“No, she’d put him right in a home!” Mac said quickly.

“Woah, woah, okay. I was just wondering, I dunno, wasn’t she banging some doctor a little while back?” Charlie asked. “Maybe he could help.”

“You know, you’re right,” Mac said, he hummed in thought and then laughed. “How come you’re falling apart and Dennis’ brains are turning to mush and I’m getting fat again and that bird is out there bangin’ doctors and shit?”

Charlie laughed at that. He shook his head and answered, “Hell if I know, dude, but I’d rather be falling apart with a fat version of you than banging strangers.”

“Let’s drink to that,” Mac said with a grin, sitting up straighter. He slowly stood and held his hand down to help Charlie up. “There’s pizza in the kitchen. And I got some new beer. It’s some kind of fruit shit, some dude gave us a whole six pack trying to get us to sell it at Paddy’s.”

“They’re trying to get us to sell their beers?” Charlie asked in shock, limping behind Mac on the way to the kitchen.

“Yeah, dude, numbers at Paddy’s are way better than when we worked there!”

“Well, maybe it’s ‘cause these kids actually work,” Charlie said with a laugh. He plopped down on the chair, letting Mac grab them beers. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them pull one damn scheme!”

Mac laughed and placed an open beer bottle in front of Charlie. He grabbed them both a plate with a slice of pizza each. He shook his head fondly.

“Suckers, wait ‘til they’re old to pull schemes. They’ll regret not doing ‘em enough.”


End file.
